1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for decontamination and detoxification applied to sanitary engineering in the home.
The technical sector of the invention and its application are in the domain of hygiene and sanitary engineering in the home, for domestic purposes.
2. Description off the Related Art
The terms ecology and environment have become commonplace especially concerning nature, but their definition should also include the study of the home: in fact, it may be noted that the word "ecology" comes etymologically from the Greek word "oikos", meaning house and "logos", science. Moreover, this home is contaminated by all sorts of so-called live particles which are responsible for a specific pathology, named "domestic lung" in the publication and conference made by Messrs. Michel BLANC and Bruno BLAIVE at the Versailles "Forum Contamine Expert" on 13th, 14th and 15th Sep. 1989; this term has been defined as grouping together the pathological states due to the multiple aggressors of pollution inside homes, provoked both by the components of the house dust produced by animals, plants, bacteria, insects, pollens, mould, viruses, etc., and which create biocontamination, and by the particles issuing from the combustion of tobacco and products coming from the outside due to industrial combustion and to automobile traffic.
There is addition and interference between these very diverse particles in the sense of added, pathological, deleterious effects, involving, for example particles from combustion and biocontamination. This also is the case for the particles of tobacco and mould, namely nicotine and acarids.
It should be noted that the contamination of the inside atmosphere also depends on the contamination of the outside atmosphere, that it is bound thereto and that it is always greater.
This contamination is different from biocontamination, as it is physical (rare gases, electro-magnetic elements, etc.) and chemical (industrial combustion, SO.sub.2, NO.sub.2, etc.). It further interferes in the configuration of the particles of the domestic ambient air, which the human being inhales at a rate of 800 millions of particles per day, of which the major part is absorbed by the organism.
Their quality and quantity are such that, normally, they are not noxious, sometimes even the contrary. However, when they fix toxic and/or contaminated additives, when they are concentrated in a large quantity (which is the case in confined, poorly ventilated dwellings), then their inherent toxicity is apparent.
These particles are in particular generated by the ejections of acarids, themselves raised in a composite, mutant culture medium.
Acarids make a veritable compost of house dust, in the same way as those of the forest make humus. They find in the dwelling a biotope which is always propitious, coming from numerous factors already cited, and in particular the conditions of temperature and humidity favourable to their development, all the more so in modern dwellings, in particular in the bathrooms and ventilation systems.
There is a veritable permanent recycling by the acarids of the particles thus generated which are then concentrated by them; it is admitted that the major allergen of "domestic lung" is contained in the ejections, "specks", of acarids. The semi-quantitative colorimetric dosage of nitrogenous metabolite guanine is a veritable index of contamination of house dust, whilst being specific of its presence. This test is thus found positive in dust in carpentry workshops and bakeries, in henhouse dust, and in house dust: there is thus a good correlation between this test and the clinical manifestations associated with allergies to house dust and acarids.
Now, the constant threat of a respiratory pathology associated with the inhalation of particles is progressing in a disquieting manner, whereas curative treatments have never been as widely employed and as efficient. This paradoxal failure may be explained by ignorance, by a deterioration of elementary hygiene in the dwelling, and by the insufficient means for purifying the ambient air, whereas everything leads one to think that the origin of the pollution is essentially, at the start, outside.
Living conditions in a reduced, overpopulated, confined dwelling and the obvious regression of domestic hygiene made one believe in the appearance of so-called "civilization" diseases.
In fact, this pulmonary pathology is associated with the ambient air of the dwelling.
Architecture, energy savings, pollution associated with combustion, and in particular passive smoking, the presence of domestic animals, the change in morals, the conditions of heating, producing condensations, the presence of bathrooms which are poorly or not ventilated, generating humidity, the systems of ventilation, etc., all transform the biotope of the living being which depends thereon and which is indissociable therefrom.
Studies and research have been developed to propose processes and products either, on the one hand, to treat the persons themselves in order to fight and treat their allergies with suitable medicines, although this is not the approach of the present invention; or to destroy the source of these allergies, which is the fundamental rule in the study of allergies. For example, the acarids which have dominated for more than ten years the discussions and preoccupations of therapists by the importance of the reactions that they generate.
In this context, mention may be made of the publication by Messrs. PENAUD, NOURRIT, AUTRAN, TIMON-DAVID, JAQUET FRANCILLON and CHARPIN on "Methods of destroying house pyroglyphid mites" in the review Clinical Allergy of 1975, Vol. 5, pages 109 to 114; and of the conferences of Messrs. BLANC and BOUTIN on the 14th, 15th and 16th of Nov. 1989 in Brussels on "The destruction of acarids and biodecontamination of the domestic environment".
These publications and conferences, and many others may be cited, were essentially based on the convincing results of the clinical action of acaricidal products used as atmosphere aerosols with the aid of an "atomizer"; these products, of which one in particular has been tested with success within this framework, and which has been used in particular application in a hospital environment for more than forty years in the domain of disinfection of bed-linen, are based on essential oils and have been known for a long time, not only for their anti-acarid effects, but also their anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects.
The action of these products is therefore proved in these particular cases of application, allowing a deposit of particles of products on the surfaces, with a view essentially to destroying the acarids. The idea was then to use these acaricidal products electively on mattresses, for example, with the aid of aerosol sprays, which in fact do not produce a veritable aerosol, but instead produce a spray with particles between 20 and 100 microns; this spray propulsion presents major drawbacks, such as the problems associated with the ozone, their price, etc., but is used by the manufacturers and distributors of these products.
Thus, the clinical contributions of the modification of the particular environment of the asthmatic allergic to acarids were observed and studied with a certain success.
However, despite these interesting, promising results, (and the development of sanitary engineering in the dwelling, including the choice of materials, the types of ventilation, and the orientation of the rooms to reduce the causes of pollution and poor hygiene) the respiratory pathology associated with the inhalation of the particles in the dwelling increases because of, the noxiousness of the particles being concentrated by the acarids, which are the principal cause of allergies, as has been described hereinabove.
The problem raised is that of being able to ensure a better and more efficient decontamination of the dwelling than the present processes mentioned above, which are oriented toward the treatment of the surfaces and the destruction of the acarids considered to be the principal allergens.
The inventor has in fact observed, against the generally accepted ideas and principles mentioned above, that, in certain dwellings where there are large quantities of acarids, the persons living therein are not allergic to said acarids and are not indisposed; he has therefore ascertained that there may be healthy acarids and that even they are necessary for the balance of nature, and that to destroy them was doubtlessly not the ultimate solution, particularly because as, in other dwellings where few acarids were noted, the occupants showed signs of allergy.
It has therefore been considered that, rather than treating the surfaces and acarids directly, it would be better to treat the source of pollution, the dust itself.